Hawk alumni welcomed home

PRINCESS ANNE – (Feb. 27, 2011) - When the University of Maryland Eastern Shore held its first homecoming parade in some time, Jourdan Reynolds was one of the many participants in the procession.

The junior was involved with his campus organization as his group and more than 20 other organizations and bands involved.

"The parade was very good," he said. "We got some awareness in the community and around campus. I believe having a parade like this makes the alumni feel good. These were things and activities they did when they were in school and they may have seemed like they fell off or fallen by the wayside and it's being picked back up."

The parade, which began at 11 a.m., started on Hobson Street in Princess Anne and proceeded to the campus and to Tawes Gymnasium, where many previous homecoming processions would end.

Once inside, there was a pep rally featuring alumni and student cheerleaders as well as a performance by the Thunderin' Hawks Pep Band, which was created this year. The band also led the parade.

Kimberly Wright, a 1994 UMES graduate, hadn't been back in more than three years and said she liked the way the parade was put on.

"I thought it was done very tastefully with Mr. and Mrs. UMES and the homecoming court in good spirits marching," she said. "I remember when I was in school, we had these things on a small scale, but this is the best I've ever seen. The best thing about it is seeing everybody coming home in good spirits and reconnecting with one another and that's what it's all about."

Colenthia Malloy, whose parents graduated from the school when it was Maryland State, said she tries to come out every year and support the homecoming events. She said the parade adds to the spirit of what the university is about.

"It's about the camaraderie and the allegiance that the alumni have to this school," she said. "It just permeates when you have the parade and the band so focused to have the spirit and it just keeps what UMES is all about, that special bond that's so unique to (Historically Black Colleges and Universities)."

Reynolds said the parade and the subsequent events capped off what he said was one of the better homecomings in his memory.

"All of the festivities so far have been good so far down to the things that have happened earlier in the week like the fashion show up to the step show, which I felt they stepped up," he said.

This article is reproduced with permission of The (Salisbury, MD) Daily Times newspaper.